Fate
by kittyluvr1112
Summary: What happens when fate brings together a snotty orphaned teen, a rich young girl, and a lonesome boy to save the world? Zelda's announced a problem, and the adventurous young teens take the chance!
1. The Diary

Zelda and Zoras are copyrighted Nintendo, and not by me. Saige, Sakura, Ivan, Xieon, all monsters and any other character not copyrighted by Nintendo, is mine and mine ONLY! You may only use them if you e-mail me and ask (politely!)  
  
*~*Chapter 1*~*  
-The Diary-  
  
Saige Evans, a tall girl of 13 years, sat perched in her favorite willow tree. She pushed a few stray strands of her Dirty Blonde hair from her eyes and continued reading. In neat writing on top of the page read...  
  
'april 9th, 2004,  
  
Dear Diary, Mom let me go out the gates today, but not for long. I wasn't allowed to leave the steps, but it still was exhilarating...'  
  
Saige snorted and tossed the diary away. Whoever had written it had left it on the wall into the castle, another one of Saige's many lookout posts. She enjoyed -and loathed- watching the townspeople. They always took such pity on her, giving her food and offering her a home. Saige would just snort and stalk off. She wouldn't accept favors, she had too much dignity. Her home was here in the woods beside the village, and it was where she belonged. "'Lo up there!" Saige looked down the trunk of the tree and saw her best -and only- friend Kyra standing there. Kyra was a wolf dog, and a looked a little worse for wear. Her long, shaggy fur was a deep brown color, like chocolate, and she was roughly the size of a small bear. But besides her size, she was amazingly light and nimble. She gazed up at Saige through her green eyes (which Saige thought clashed terribly with her fur). "I said Hello" Saige had a gift, she could communicate with animals. It wasn't as great as that of which she heard in tales, of being able to control fire and water, but it was nifty. "Hey" Saige sighed, diving from the tree and landing beside Kyra. "Was hard tah see yah there" Kyra smiled in her southern accent, nodding at Saige's clothes. Saige was in her normal attire, a black belly-shirt and baggy green pants held up with a thick brown belt. On the belt was a long, pointed dagger, and slung over her back was a sword fit snugly in it's hilt. "shall we go and visit town?" Kyra said, trying to strike up some sort of conversation. As if to answer, Saige's stomach gave a low rumble. Saige blushed. "Yeah.." she smiled as turned on her heel and headed for town. Light filtered through the trees and little yellow flecks played across Saige and Kyra's backs. The trees were bunched together so thickly, that the sky wasn't even visible. It could be raining for all they knew. The further they walked, the less trees there were, until there were only 4 or 5 trees every 50 yards. The town was visible now, a huge looming wall made of cobblestone built around it. In the very center was a huge castle, stained glass windows every 3 feet. As the duo walked closer, the castle appeared to grow with them. Saige looked upwards, wincing against the sun, into a small hut atop the wall. She felt a sudden ping of pity for the poor man who had to climb up there every day, but that soon diminished as the man looked from his post and snorted "well if it ain't the street rat again" before pulling a lever and swinging open the 8 story high oak doors. 


	2. A new friend

Zelda and Zoras are copyrighted Nintendo, and not by me. Saige, Sakura,  
Ivan, Xieon, all monsters and any other character not copyrighted by Nintendo, is mine and mine ONLY! You may only use them if you e-mail me  
and ask (politely!)  
  
*~*Chapter 2*~*  
A new friend  
  
Sakura Lee, age 14, watched as the oak doors rumbled open and a young teen with her large brown dog ran in. She yearned to know what was behind those doors. She was tired of the stuffy life she led. She knew most people would die for her life, her family was rich, and believed in "proper young ladies" And in her mother and fathers opinion, "proper ladies sit legs together, don't wield swords, don't get dirty, and DON'T leave the town." To this Sakura would always give an annoyed sigh and snap some witty remark like "where can I find one of these "proper ladies"? " or "Oh joy.." Sighing, she looked around her at the town of Hyrule. It was a pretty town, made entirely of white cobble-stone. Carts and wagons lined the streets, selling many things ranging from food to pet care supplies. The town was simply bustling with people going about their normal routine. A little bit further into the town, the shops thinned out and houses became visable. Naturally, Sakura's was the biggest other than princess Zelda's. The castle was located in the center of the town, along with a huge 4 foot deep fountain. Sakura absentmindedly handed a trader a dollar, and took a ripe apple from him. She had nothing else to do, and decided to follow the girl and her dog. She started off in the direction they went, moving at a quick pace to keep up. She took a bite from her apple, only to realize she was inches from biting a worm's head off. Grimacing, she tossed it aside and threw the apple in a trash bin. To Sakura's surprise, the girl took a quick turn left into an alleyway. Hyrule was one of the few safe towns there were, most being plagued by bums, and creeps. If not that, rabid animals. But alleyways still weren't safe, no matter WHERE you were.  
Where is this loon going? Sakura thought as she followed the girl through long mazes of alleys. She knew the town like the back of her hand, but she had always skipped the alleys. She hoped the girl wasn't planning to stay down here long, since she wasn't sure of the way out of the complex maze she had just come through. Apparently the girl noticed her, since she picked up the pace to a near jog and kept mumbling feverishly to her dog. Saige took a quick turn, not knowing where she was going, but trying to shove the pretty brunette that was tailing her off track.  
*** "That creeps following us..." Kyra said for what must have been the tenth time in 5 minuets. "I know that Kyra!" Saige mumbled through gritted teeth, as she dove nimbly past some trashcans and out of the alley. The alley opened up to the backyard of Zelda's castle, which was a ten-acre property made entirely of Zelda's favorite plant, roses. A small red brick walkway wound through the teeming masses of vines and flowers, to a courtyard with a huge marble fountain. Walking around the perimeter of the garden were large men in armor that hid their faces. Saige normally took this way, since she'd be able to pester the guards at the castle, and it seemed they didn't know their way around the alleys as she did. As a plus, she'd normally snatch something from the castle kitchen on her way out. Saige ducked down behind a bush, but there was no need since it was much taller than her. She turned on her heels, taking her pursuer by surprise. "WHO are you and why are you following me?" Saige hissed, grabbing the girl by the front of her blue blouse. The girl had a look of wonder in her Hazel eyes, yet she also looked petrified. "well?" Kyra snapped, stalking behind her, hair raised. She knew the girl couldn't understand her, but she wanted to help Saige all the same. "I'm s-sorry" the girl stammered, still gazing about the garden. "I'm Sakura" She held out her hand, but Saige's grip was so tight it only made her more uncomfortable. Sakura looked into Saige's dark brown eyes. Saige appeared to be studying her, and deciding since she was too young to be of any threat anyway, let her go. "sorry" Saige said, waving her hand airily. "Thought you were a spy for one of those geniuses" Saige smirked and nodded towards the guards prowling the edges of the garden, still unaware of the presence of two girls and a bear- sized dog. Sakura smiled and sat down. Her smile faded as she looked around her in wonder. "Where are we?" she mused, more to herself than anyone else. "Zelda's garden" Saige said simply as she sat down beside Sakura. "Nothin' much really. I come here a lot" Saige winced as she felt a sharp pain in her side. "what?!" she snapped at Kyra, who had nudged her hard in the ribs. "Introduce mah'" Kyra ordered crossly. Saige looked uncertainly at Sakura, who heard nothing of this except Saige making low 'woofs' and grunts at her dog. Saige blushed violently at Sakura as she gave a quizzical look. "My dog, Kyra" She said patting Kyra. "Ask 'er why she was followin' us!" Kyra urged. She quickly regretted opening her mouth, since Sakura's mouth was now wide open. "what?" Saige asked, trying to sound as if she didn't know why Sakura was gaping. She figured Kyra looked real odd, grunting loudly at her like that.  
  
"Another one like me!" Sakura whispered, as if afraid some invisible person would hear. Now Saige didn't have to fake confusion. "what do ya' mean?" She asked "You know..." Sakura said shiftily. She snapped her fingers and a particularly large gust of wind sprang from nowhere. Saige noticed the blue necklace that was strung around her neck began to glow. She didn't have time to take this all in though, since a rock was picked up by the wind and pitched at Saige's head. "wind powers.." Sakura sighed and the gem settled back on her neck. "Yeah...I noticed.." Saige said, rubbing the sore spot on her head the rock had hit. "Animal talking powers" she smiled. "Cant think of another name for it I've always had mine, how'd you get yours?" Sakura smiled, but it faded quickly as a shadow fell over them. "You two! How'd you get here?" The trio found themselves looking into the face of a particularly large guard. "RUN!" Kyra yelped, grabbing Sakura's jean bottoms and half dragging Sakura across the courtyard into the alleys. Saige on the other hand, dove aside the guard and set off for the fountain. It was made of the same cobblestone that the whole town was of. Water shot from the top and towards the sun, coming back down and glimmering. Why not have a little fun with them before making her getaway? She turned towards the guards. Two made a dive for her, and collided with each other as Saige leapt out of the way. Smirking, she took a few steps back, and instantly was grabbed by the wrists. "wha..?!" Saige twisted, but couldn't free her hands to grab the sword that sat neatly in the sheath slung over her back. The guards towered over her 4 foot five frame. Sakura wheeled around, and freed her pant legs from Kyra's grasp. "hey! Over here!" she yelled, not sure really what she was going to do, but not wanting to let her new friend down. She pointed a finger at the cobblestone path. A sudden blast of wind picked up some particularly large rocks, and flung themselves at the guards, who in their haste to get out of the path of flying objects, dropped Saige. Saige darted out the alley, with Sakura and Kyra at her heels. 


	3. Tears, Fights and Confessions

Zelda and Zoras are copyrighted Nintendo, and not by me. Saige, Sakura,  
Ivan, Xieon, all monsters and any other character not copyrighted by Nintendo, is mine and mine ONLY! You may only use them if you e-mail me  
and ask (politely!)  
  
*~*Chapter 3*~*  
  
Tears, Fights and Confessions  
  
"That was stupid!" Sakura yelped, for what seemed to Saige like the twentieth time since they were out of earshot of the guards. They'd been walking aimlessly through they alleys for quite some time now. "really..?" Saige said, mostly to annoy Sakura. She'd known Sakura for ten minuets and she'd already gotten yelled at, and given a long lecture on how she shouldn't mess around in the alleyways alone, and pester the guards. "YES REALLY!" Sakura yelled Sakura's face turned an odd shade of purple, and Saige couldn't help but grin as Sakura's hazel eyes grew wider. "You shouldn't MEDDLE like that!" Sakura yelped, looking distastefully at Saige. "You shouldn't MEDDLE like that!" Saige echoed in a mock girly impression of Sakura. "shut...up!" Sakura said through clenched teeth, trying to regain her composure. "Meddle?" Saige snapped heatedly "You expect me to sit in a tree all day?" "no!" Sakura yelled, banging her fist rather painfully on the side of a brick building. "I expect you to stay home! Do your parents know about this?!" Sakura felt a rush of pride as the color drained from Saige's face. She had won yet another argument. The two walked silently through the alleys, Saige lagging a few paces behind Sakura. There were less and less unpaved alleys, and the voices of many people could be heard in the distance. It was as if the two had an invisible barrier up, stating that Saige was isolating herself, purposely.  
  
"no..." Saige said after what seemed like an eternity. But she was no longer in her confident posture, but her brown eyes were fixed on the ground, her hands jammed in the pockets of her baggy green pants. "Your parents don't know?" Sakura said grinning. ANOTHER argument won! "what parents?" Saige scowled, louder this time. She looked up at Sakura, and Sakura noticed Saige's face was red, and her brown eyes were welled two times their normal size with tears. "yours.." Sakura said, falling back so she was next to Saige. She suddenly felt really bad. She didn't mean to make Saige cry... "You do have parents right?" Saige looked away from Sakura, and suddenly seemed very interested in an ant by her cargo boot. "no.." she said so low that Sakura had to bend in closer to make sure she had heard properly. Saige suddenly stopped walking and looked aimlessly upward, trying fruitlessly to hide the tears now rolling down her cheeks. "my mother got ill when I was very young, I don't remember much of her, she died a few months after she was diagnosed. My father went out a few weeks later, and he...never came home. I was about five then...so I left and found myself a home, near things I could trust. Animals." "so you have no parents?" Sakura asked meekly, scooting closer to Saige, now feeling downright terrible for hurting Saige like that. "none. Zippo, zilch! What don't you get!" Saige said, still gazing up at the clothesline suspended from a 3 story window. "I'm- I'm so sor-" Sakura went to say but a quick movement from Saige made her stop in mid-sentence. "Don't be!" Saige said, more ferociously than when she had caught Sakura sneaking up on her. "I've been by myself for years now, and I've been doing fine! I don't need your pity!" Sakura felt the invisible barrier between the two rise again, and said nothing for a minuet. The pair walked the rest of the way in silence. They stepped out of the alley, and the sunlight made Sakura blink rapidly and cover her eyes. Saige pointed her boots towards the gates, more than ready to go home and get rid of this annoying girl. "wait!" Sakura called, catching up with Saige. She wanted to repay her, since she still felt really bad about the whole parent issue. "How about I walk you home?" To this Saige gave a snort as she tried to suppress a bout of laughter. Kyra flipped one ear humorously. Sakura looked slightly bewildered. "what?" she asked. "You 'lowwed to leave the gate, hun?" Kyra said, and Saige quickly translated for her. Sakura shook her head. "nope, mom believes in "proper young ladies" that don't wield weapons, or go out past the gate. She thinks everything I need is in here, Hyrule." At this point Saige held up her hand to silence Sakura. They had reached the gates. "see you around I guess" Saige said, waving and turning towards the gate. But a loud noise made her jump a few feet into the air, and caused Kyra to seek refuge somewhere between Sakura's legs. Sakura looked thoroughly alarmed. "what happened?" Saige yelled over the noise she had recognized as a bugle. "Don't know, but that's the alarm!" Sakura yelled back. "C'mon!" She darted off towards the center of town, and Kyra shrugged and followed. Saige stood stock still, not wanting to follow. Sakura and Kyra were soon consumed in a large mass of townspeople all running relatively in the same direction. Saige sighed, and tried to convince herself she wasn't following Sakura, she was going to see what was wrong. That kid was beginning to bug her... 


	4. Zelda's Announcement

Zelda and Zoras are copyrighted Nintendo, and not by me. Saige, Sakura,  
Ivan, Xieon, all monsters and any other character not copyrighted by Nintendo, is mine and mine ONLY! You may only use them if you e-mail me  
and ask (politely!)  
  
*~* Chapter 4 *~*  
Zelda's Announcement  
  
  
  
Saige shoved her way through the crowd, just as a man stepped onto a podium and the masses fell silent. "move it pal, coming through, watch it!" Saige murmured rude remarks as she beat her way around people and found a spot next to Sakura and Kyra. She was about 6 yards from the podium, and, like everyone else, stared at it, willing the short stocky man on it to speak. The man was half Saige's size, and had a grizzled beard down to his feet. He had one wooden leg, which her wore with dignity, hopping around on it like a bird. "Ladies and gentlemen!" The man began, having to scream so the whole crowd could hear his small voice. "The princess has just announced, that we have an imminent threat," Saige tapped her foot impatiently. This old man was pausing and taking a breath after every two words. "an imminent threat, of war" A collective gasp rang through the crowd, and some wavers of bustling, coughing, and small whines were heard. "war with who?" someone finally had the courage to yell out, and a few people murmured their agreement. "war, with...well" the man suddenly lost some of his dignity "well we don't know.." To this Saige leapt to her feet, from her perch atop one of the food carts. "then how can we have a war if we don't know who we are fighting?!" She yelped, shrugging of Sakura's pleas to sit down. A well dressed family of brunettes, apparently Sakura's family, scowled at Saige as if she had just yelled a cuss word. The yells of agreements were getting louder now, some people waving their fists in the air. "please, please let me explain!" the man squeaked, only making the crowd madder. A couple of men hopped onto the podium, and started yelling at him, threatening him to call off the war. A few people hopped up also, trying to restrain the enraged men. Children started crying in the mess, and the whole procedure had turned to chaos. "wait" A meek voice called out from somewhere behind Saige and Sakura. They whipped around, and Kyra gave a small yip. The crowd turned, and suddenly regained order as the voice stepped from her place in the shadows. She was a tall and dignified form, a thin elf-woman draped in lovely pink cloths. The cloths wound their way down her body, mixing colors and giving her the appearance that she was shimmering. She had long, straight blonde hair that fell down to her shoulders, and a bit over her eyes. Those eyes were the most entrancing part of her, they were the purest of blue, almost white. They were strict, but kind. The whole town fell silent as the princess stepped onto the podium, and shooed the few who were on it off. "the war" she began, and Saige and Sakura, along with the rest of Hyrule, leaned forward to hear her weak voice. Saige had never seen the princess, and was surprised how her small melodious voice could reach all the way to the back of the crowd. "the war, is with an ancient force. Known not to man, nor to elf, nor to dwarf. A force so strong no one can resist on their own. Un- earthly spirits make up it's army. A master of transfiguration, the only who know of its presence before now are the Zora kind" A few murmurs rose through the crowd, and Zelda waved a hand to silence them. "zora?" Saige hissed to Sakura "aren't they those fish things that hate men?" Sakura nodded. She had heard of these, but never seen them. They were supposedly fish like creatures, that lived in a temple somewhere. They hated men, and kept their distance. No one from Hyrule had ever really seen one, so they were considered mythical creatures. A sudden gasp from the mass made the duo look towards the podium. Zelda's blue orbs were closed, her hands held facing each other at her midriff. She slowly drew them together, muttering unknown words under her breath the entire time. She slowly brought them apart and what the crowd saw made some scream. In between her fingers was a picture, made of fluttering colored sunlight. The walls of the room they looked into were moving, and Saige felt herself fall headfirst into the picture. Sakura tensed, and Kyra whined beside her. Saige felt herself hit ground, and no one else was in sight. She looked around. The walls and floor and pillars of this castle seemed to be made from water. Moving along it were streaks of waves. Light shimmered in it, from a source she could not see. The castle itself she thought. She herself stood on the watery floor, but as she took a step her shoes made a hollow 'clunk' sound on the water. Her brown orbs moved a few feet in front of her, and she gasped. She now saw what had made the woman scream. Hundreds of bluish hued bodies were strewn carelessly across to floor. None seemed to be damaged, so Saige mustered the strength to bend over and touch the scaly body of a teenage girl closest to her. There was no pulse. She rolled the girl over, and saw she wasn't much unlike herself. She looked in her early teens, and was clutching a small scaly finned puppy in her hands. Her open eyes were sea-green, and read pure terror. They were staring at the ceiling, not blinking. Saige looked up, eyes welling with tears. These poor people, had suffered a terrible fate. All were frozen, dead, all wearing the same petrified expression. Fear hung in the air, like a thick blanket of fog. So cold was it that Saige shuttered unconsciously. She closed her eyes, willing to fall back out of the portal. When she opened them, she, along with many other shivering townspeople, were back in their original places. Saige looked over at Sakura, who was whimpering and clutching a very distressed looking Kyra. Saige bent down and scooted closer to Kyra too. Zelda looked up again. "do you now see?" She asked quietly. "The Zora could have warned to rest of the world, hence the force killed them, and ruined their town of Western Ocean. Now that we know, I am sure that we too, will fall victim to the Force, unless we fight back. We are the only ones who know of this" She gestured to the crowd before her. "The force's leader, Xieon, is planning an attack, that much we know. But we know nothing more. We can't send a runner for help, it's much too dangerous."  
The crowd nodded wordlessly, and slowly slipped away until only Saige, Sakura and Kyra remained. Sakura turned to Saige, her hazel eyes determined. "I'm going with you" she said defiantly. Saige cocked her head, "what do you mean?" she asked. Sakura scowled a bit. "Its not like its safe here, we can warn other towns" she said "outside the gates" Saige grinned and stood up. All harsh feelings for Sakura were gone now. The old "follow the rules" Sakura was gone, and replaced with a defiant shadow of her. "lets go then shall we?" She clenched her fist "meet me on the stairs at midnight tonight" she ordered, before turning on her heel and dashing off. Kyra woofed her goodbye, and darted off after her. Sakura nodded and turned around to face the podium. She looked at the spot where Zelda had concord the portal into the Western Ocean. She remembered all that fear, the pain. Shaking her head, she turned and ran home. She had to pack..  
  
"Dear...what are you doing?" A woman of about 45 years poked her head through the doorway into Sakura's room. Sakura was on the far end, fruitlessly trying to stuff a few pairs of socks into an already stuffed bag. She spun around when her mother entered. "I-I.." She stammered. How could she explain this one? Should she lie? The biggest thing she'd lied about was whether or not she ate all her broccoli. "I'm...um...donating them to – er -- charity" She said lamely. Her mother smiled. "oh dearest, that's wonderful. My big girl is donating to those less fortunate.." with a small wave she left the room, closing the large oak door behind her. Sakura sighed with relief and threw herself onto her queen- sized four-poster bed. She felt horrid lying like that, but she knew she had to. After all, she was going to save all of Hyrule! No, all of planet Avvia! The thought lifted her spirits and she propped herself up with her elbows, and looked around her room for anything to pack. Her room was huge, about the size of her school cafeteria. The walls were a soft pink, as was her expensive rug. Her bed was in the very end of her room, against an oblong window that touched the 19 foot ceiling. She had to be careful what she said in her room, as it echoed around most of her large mansion. She was definitely not unfortunate when it came to money. Her father was a merchant, and sold many expensive items, some of which were now in princess Zelda's castle now. She walked across the room to her oak closet. She threw open the door, walked in and smiled. She imagined what Saige would say about it, probably some snide remark like "This is more like a drive in closet, not a walk in closet!" Her closet most certainly was large, and could easily fit a good six and a half horse drawn carriages in it. She skimmed the racks, and settled for a couple pairs of old shoes, and many t- shirts. Nothing fancy she decided, or her mother might become suspicious of what she was "donating to charity" She tucked these things into her red backpack. She had used it for school the month before, but "Jan sport" backpacks were no longer in style, so it had been in the heap of old things in her closet, unused for weeks. A soft knock on her door made Sakura jump, and she hastily stuffed the last of the shoes she had extracted from her closet into the backpack. "come in Beasly!" She yelped. The door opened ever so slowly, and a short old man walked in. He was in his usual attire, a suit and shiny shoes, and he looked up at Sakura with his weary eyes. He truly looked like he was about to fall apart, he hunched over so far he was a good foot shorter than Sakura and every visible inch of him was lined in wrinkles. It was as if his skin was just...falling off. "Dinner.." Beasly said slowly, his voice quiet and raspy "is served" he turned and slowly tried to walk away, but was only a few steps away when Sakura was across the room and at his side. "Thanks" she murmured, and walked out into the hallway. It was oak floor, with a long red carpet running the length of the house. The only light in the hall was from the many windows etched into the stone wall. At night they lit torches along the walls, but that served as very little light. Sakura briskly walked the length of the hallway, and came upon a long staircase. It started as a thick stairway, going down a good 30 steps, and then split off into two stair cases, each winding its way down to the ground in opposite directions. They ended at the marble floor of the main hall. It was the size of a football field, and empty except for the many doors, and banners on the wall. The banners were all the same, red, rug- like material hanging from the walls, all bearing the same Lee family crest. The center of each crest dubbed a ferocious lion, symbol of bravery. But right now, Sakura felt anything but brave. Sakura took a door to her left, and entered the dining room. This room was much warmer, with a red carpet, and a stone fireplace. A humongous oak table was in the center, surrounded by 10 matching chairs. At the head of the table, in their usual spots, were Sakura's parents. "Hello Mother, Hello Father" Sakura recited, as usual, and taking her place beside her mother. A few more younger butlers came into the room, and dropped a tray in front of each Lee family member. Sakura pushed her mashed potatoes around a bit. Normally she'd complain, but she wasn't hungry now. She would be doing the most daring thing of her life, lying to her parents, and running away to a place she was forbidden to go. "Are you okay, darling? You look positively ill.." her father reached towards Sakura and felt her forehead, looking for a fever. "I'm fine Father" Sakura said dully "just not very hungry" "You need to eat" Sakura's mother scolded "It's the only way you can stay healthy. I don't want anyone to think my daughter is malnutritioned!" Sakura slowly took a bit of her chicken. "so... you heard what the Princess said?" she asked. She knew her parents had been at the gathering, she and Saige had seen them. She wondered if she should tell her parents about running away with Saige...maybe they'd think it way brave of her and let her go. "Yes" her father said "and it was dreadful! I'd be so embarrassed, you sitting next to that rude girl" Sakura sighed. So much for that idea... "yes, but what about what the Princess said? What about Xieon and his followers?" Sakura asked, hoping to change the subject. "yes well" her mother said "The princess has never let us down before. There's no need to get all alarmed. Now eat!" Sakura shoveled some more food into her mouth. No need to be alarmed? Princess Zelda has never actually feared any other creature! Sakura excused herself and went back up to her room. She set her alarm clock for 11:30 that night. She'd meet Saige at the steps then. 


	5. The Outside

Zelda and Zoras are copyrighted Nintendo, and not by me. Saige, Sakura,  
Ivan, Xieon, all monsters and any other character not copyrighted by Nintendo, is mine and mine ONLY! You may only use them if you e-mail me  
and ask (politely!)  
  
*~* Chapter 5 *~*  
The Outside  
  
Sakura stood a couple of yards away from the large oak doors. She suddenly felt very, very small. It was as if she was standing on the edge of two universes, hers and a whole new one. She had no idea what was on the outside, nor where the steps she was supposed to meet Saige at were. She hoisted her pack further up onto her back, and staggered under it's weight. She began to wonder if she had packed too heavy. She had no idea how long she was going to be gone, and had packed many, many pairs of pants, and over a dozen shirts. She hoped the guard wouldn't get suspicious of a 14 year old girl, sneaking away with a backpack and a sleeping bag in the dead of night. She pulled the hood of her white sweatshirt up over her head and did her best to disguise her voice. "open the gates!" she hissed skyward. The wooden door began to open, groaning its protest all the way. She slipped out and suddenly was very glad that she had brought her sweatshirt. It was definitely much colder out here, without the walls to block out most of the wind. Shivering, Sakura took a step further, but shrieked as she realized there was no ground below her. By the time she had realized there was a large marble stairway, and regained her balance, Sakura was already a good dozen steps down. She gazed at the castle walls behind her. It looked beautiful in the moonlight, but very insignificant compared to the rest of the world it stood on. A slight chuckle from the darkness at the bottom of the stairs caused her to wheel around. "Your late" a voice said simply, and a figure of Saige was illuminated by the moon. Saige stepped up onto the first step and smirked. "so, what's it feel like?" she asked "exhilarating?" Sakura stepped up a step in awe. "You quoted my diary!" She said, bewildered. "Yeah, you left it on the wall" Saige casually tossed the diary back to Sakura. "We'll spend the night at my place" Saige smiled. This was going to be her first sleepover. Not that her house really was that glamorous... "okay with you?" Sakura nodded, and darted down the steps and soundlessly after Saige. "It'll take a while to walk there" Saige explained, as they cleared the field that surrounded Hyrule and started going into a small forest. The trees were small, with a considerably large distance in between. Saige explained that the thicker the trees are, the closer they are to her home. Sakura nodded every now and then, becoming more and more aware of how dark it was getting. After a couple of hours walking, the moon no longer shone through the canopy at all. "How much longer?" Sakura complained, she was getting very tired of this. She knew she'd already asked at least 3 times, but felt like asking again anyway. She sorely longed she had brought a flashlight, as she could not see any more than 2 feet in front of her face. "Almost there..." Saige answered, just as she had the first three times. Saige pushed aside a large vine that hung limply from a tree, and reveled a large open patch, where light streamed through the trees. It was like a small patch of happiness in a dark forest. Sakura noted that the sun was just rising. "c'mon!" Saige said, and Sakura noticed she was already halfway up a nearby tree. Sakura squinted up the tree, but saw nothing. Sakura scrambled up the tree, falling down 2 inches for every 5 that she climbed. It took her a while to get halfway up the tree, but then Saige threw down a crude rope ladder. "You could have done that earlier!" Sakura gasped, out of breath, as she took hold of the ladder. "didn't reach the ground!" Saige said apologetically. "you should learn to climb faster!" Sakura ignored her remark and made the rest of the way up the ladder fairly okay, despite a few scratches from stubborn branches. At the topmost limb of the tree, hung a hammock. A very large hammock. It was made from vines, and was about 20 square yards. The center hung inward, and the sides were higher. In it was a small sleeping bag, and a pack full of clothes. There was a large bit of firewood in the center, and the house had a clear view of the sky. Kyra was sitting in the sleeping bag, Saige beside it. Saige nodded, and pointed upwards. Sakura looked up and gasped, the sky was still deep blue, and full of stars. But around the edges of her vision, there were orange and red streaks; giving the sky the look that someone had painted the blue and the stars on a rainbow. It was the most enchanting thing Sakura had ever seen. "What do you do when it rains?" Sakura asked, absentmindedly dropping her stuff on the floor, and laying down so as to see the sky better. Saige stood up, and motioned towards some vines that hung from two branches just above the house. "You see, the house is slung on vines like this right? Well I can do this.." Saige moved a few leaves that were about the size of her whole body inward, so they covered most of the floor except for the small patch in the middle by the firewood. They hung about 5 feet off the ground, leaving about a few inches above each girl's head. Sakura still had not moved from her spot on her back on the floor, and looking right up at the leaves even looked pretty. "I've never seen anything like it.." she breathed, looking at the intricate patterns on the leaves as they went in and out, making the edges all squiggly. "you like?" Saige smiled, as she shoved Kyra out of her sleeping bag and rolled it up. "It's real pretty when it rains, an' you 'ear all the rain drops lull yah' to sleep" Kyra said, tapping a paw on the leaf closest to her. Sakura cocked her head to one side. "didn't catch that.." she smiled to Saige. Saige nodded and quickly translated. "can she understand me?" Sakura asked, pointing at Kyra. The shaggy brown dog shook, and stood up. She trotted over to Sakura, and to make herself more clear, exaggerated a large nod. "good!" Sakura smiled "now Saige can translate for me, and I won't have to bother her translating for you." Kyra opened her mouth and panted, in what was inevitably a dog-ish grin. Saige moved the leaves back, and moved her pack closer to her. "how long you think we'll be gone?" She asked. She really didn't have much more to pack, but was just wondering. "I don't know.." Sakura replied "I'll need a map to see how far the next few towns are. I do hope we'll be able to tell them about the Force before it's too late.." Saige unzipped her shabby knapsack and reached into it. She emerged a few seconds later with a large map of the east side of the planet Avvia. She lay it out on the floor, and stabbed a spot marked "Northern Hyrule woods" with her finger. She withdrew a pencil from her pack, and drew an arrow on the side of the map, pointing away from the map. Under it she wrote "West Avvia – Western Ocean – last attack" "I only have the map of the East side of the planet, since I don't think anyone really has been on both sides. I think they choose one and stay" Saige explained. "the best thing for us to do, is circle around East, since we are pretty close to the last attack anyway. We just need to find some help, and then return to Hyrule." Sakura nodded, but was still deeply involved with looking out at the landscape from the tree. "Is the whole world like this?" She asked, more to herself than anyone else. Saige smirked. "I wouldn't know, I just said, I've only been here and Hyrule. The furthest I've been is those mountains" She pointed somewhere in the distance, where some jagged points were just visible in the early morning mist. "I know that heads West. Towards the last attack, and towards Gem Mountain Pass, it should take us directly towards the Ocean." Sakura nodded silently. She'd definitely heard that name before, maybe from another villager. "But we'll need food first" Saige said casually tossing the map back inside her pack. Sakura stood up, dreading the long walk back to Hyrule. "where do you think your going?" Saige asked "You've run away remember? Won't anyone notice you!?" Sakura threw herself back down on the floor. "'Kay" she said, tossing Saige a 10 dollar bill "you go" It hit her then that she had run away, to go on an adventure with an orphan she hardly knew, had just thrown her all her hard earned allowance, and had let her lead her hours away from home with no idea which way was home. Sakura sighed. She really should have thought this out more. "I-"But before she could say another word, Saige was already halfway down the tree, yelling something about not falling. Sakura sighed and rolled onto her stomach, letting her gaze wander to the bear sized dog in the corner. Kyra looked down from the hammock, as if to check to see if Saige was really gone. Then, paying no attention to Sakura, leapt onto the rolled up sleeping bag she had been tossed out of earlier, and buried herself in it. She cast an apologetic glance at Sakura once nestled deep inside and hoped Sakura wouldn't be mad that she'd disobeyed Saige. Just as Kyra was beginning to settle in, she leapt to her feet. Snarling and bristling she approached the ladder. Sakura stood up and looked over the edge, and saw that someone was climbing up! She stepped back and in her haste tripped over her own feet and fell flat on the floor. With a loud 'snap' a large puff of gray smoke appeared. When the smog cleared, Sakura could see a form in the center of it. Bits of blonde hair framed the figures face. It was dressed in many different colors of blue cloths, and wore a mask over its head that covered everything but its eyes and the mess of blonde bangs. "w-who are you?" Sakura stammered, leaping to her feet. The figure didn't answer, but looked Sakura up and down. When he finally spoke, his voice was low and melodious. "I've come to wish thee good luck" The figure said "Who are you?!" Sakura asked, this time more confidently. "I am Sheik, but that means nothing" The person said. "I've come to warn you also, things are not looking up. Xieon is gathering recruits, and their powers are growing. They hold a deep magic that even I do not know much about. Get help. There is a weary traveler by the Gem Mountain Pass. He knows much about this magic. He will help thee" With that the figure turned to leave. Sakura still wasn't sure if what she'd seen was real, or maybe she'd fallen asleep on the floor, but she still wanted answers. "How do you know?" she demanded. "What if we don't make it? Will someone else warn other towns? How will help get to Hyrule?" The figure stopped a few feet from the ladder. "I know. You must trust me." It said "The mountains are treacherous, and failing will result in chaos. You decide how to get the help you wish for. You must be brave. Fate is the reason you are doing this, nothing more nothing less. Learn to accept fate, and adapt to its many twists and turns in store for you." The figure closed it's fist, and opened it again. In its hand was a smooth rock, the color of a cloud-ridden sky. It was pale blue and white, and it shone in the sunlight that filtered through the tree's canopy. "It will give you strength. Believe in yourself, your Avvia's last hope. You and Saige. Be brave Sakura" With a loud snap and other puff of smoke the figure was gone, leaving Sakura alone and bewildered, with the rock clutched in her hand. Kyra was just sitting in the corner, her maw open, staring at the spot the figure was seconds before.  
Upon Saige's arrival, Sakura learned this figure had visited her too, and given her the same message. Saige had brought back enough food to feed them for about a week, at least until they got past the Gem Mountain Pass. 


	6. Ivan and The Lunar Lupes

Zelda and Zoras are copyrighted Nintendo, and not by me. Saige, Sakura,  
Ivan, Xieon, all monsters and any other character not copyrighted by Nintendo, is mine and mine ONLY! You may only use them if you e-mail me  
and ask (politely!)  
  
*~*Chapter 6*~*  
Ivan and the Lunar Lupes  
  
  
  
"I'm tired!" Sakura complained again. She was a few steps behind Saige, and was struggling to keep up. They had been on the road for about 5 days, and their food was running low. They had found the Pass no problem, just it was a lot longer then they had expected, and they had to take many detours to maneuver their way around boulders that were at least half the size of Hyrule. The Pass was almost like a long, deep canyon, and climbing the walls was near impossible. You had to watch your step , since smaller canyons, only about 3 feet in diameter, led off in perpendicular directions from the Gem Pass, and scorpions were often hiding in the long shadows they cast. "Quit it will ya?!" Saige shouted, her voice echoing off the reddish hued walls of the Pass. Kyra woofed her agreement and turned to stare scornfully at Sakura. It was getting dark now, and a crescent moon was beginning to rise on the horizon. A soft hoot caught Saige's attention. A small owl was perched on a nearby boulder, one foot tucked into it's messy, matted, mud- colored feathers. As Saige watched, it switched feet, so the one that was in it's feathers now supported it. Suddenly, it began to sing a low tune. "Trouble stalks you" it hooted repeatedly in its song. "Trouble..." Saige translated for Sakura, who snorted humorously. "forget it" she ordered and continued walking "its just an owl" Saige shrugged to Kyra and followed Sakura. Kyra stopped though, as the owl sang its mournful warning again. "what?" Saige asked irritably. "Somethin's here.." Kyra said, in an almost whisper. Saige reported this to Sakura, who shivered at the news and brought her small sword closer to her. Maybe the owl was right. A rock fell from the top of the canyon. "Trouble...Trouble" she owl sang in the distance. It was getting dark out, and the trio couldn't see more then a few yards ahead of them. Not even the moonlight fell into the deathly quiet canyon. Saige reached back into her sword sheath, feeling reassured as her hands grasped the familiar leather handle of the sword. Another rock fell, and she slowly took the sword out, it's blade shining lethally as she brought it into a comfortable defending position, just in front of her chest. Sakura did the same with her shorter blade. She wasn't a very good swordsman, in fact, she'd only used one once, and her hand shook as it grasped its cold handle. A few more rocks fell, and large shadows stepped out of the canyon wall. The owl whooshed past them, screaming now. "TROUBLE! TROUBLE!" The shadows came closer, and the trio could see they were taking the shape of large wolf-like dogs, with slit- like red eyes. Sakura stepped backwards, and noticed that they were surrounded by these creatures. Kyra growled menacingly, but knew she couldn't take these wolves. They were a bit bigger than her, and most of them seemed to be made of muscular long legs, that could carry them far and fast. Kyra was shorter, and more weighed down. Suddenly, a wolf darted at Saige, baring its inch long fangs. Saige was swift though, and brought the sword down right onto the creature's head. It wavered, backed up, and shook itself. It wasn't even injured. It howled, and the whole pack began to attack, one strategically placing a blow, as the other recoiled to strike again, so the trio was under an almost constant rain of teeth and claws. Sakura screamed in the distance, as her sword was ripped from her hand and tossed aside. She fell to the ground, and three wolves surrounded her, growling. Nearby she heard Saige go down, closely followed by Kyra. They could feel the wolves' breath now, it was an icy cold, and struck fear into their hearts. The dogs were emitting a cold chill as they neared, their glowing red eyes gleaming with pleasure of the kill. It was then that Saige noticed that their fur was made not of flesh, but almost of shadows. They stepped in and out of long shadows cast by the narrower cracks in the wall, and almost disappeared into the shadow. They were close now, too close. Saige shut her eyes and waited for them to kill her, she had failed. Through her eyelids though, she saw a quick flash of light, and felt the cold the dogs emitted grow weaker. She opened her eyes, as did Sakura. A good dozen yards away from them, was a small boy. In his hand he clutched a lamp, and was shining it's beam on and off at the wolves. This seemed to cause them great pain, as they howled in agony and backed into the shadows again. Some just disappeared on the spot. The scene was turned to utter chaos, the shadows darting nimbly about, trying to escape the light. Finally they seemed to be all gone. The only trace of them was a cold chill that hung in the air, no paw prints, nothing to show they were even there. Saige looked up at the boy, who was already helping Sakura to her feet a few yards away, and petting Kyra gently on the head. He appeared to be around 10 years old, and had dirty blonde hair in a mess on his head. He was about a head smaller than both Saige and Sakura, and Kyra could almost lick his face. "Thanks.." Sakura smiled. Saige hated to admit it, but she owed this kid a thanks too. She nodded towards where the wolves had disappeared. "what were those?" She asked  
  
The boy gave a smug smirk. "Lunar Lupes" He said. Sakura remembered from her studies that Lunar meant moon, and Lupe meant wolf. "Moon Wolves?" she asked quizzically. "Yeah" the boy said "They hate the light, they do" he said, flicking his lamp off. "I'm Ivan" he smiled, changing the subject and holding out his hand to first Saige, then Sakura. "I'm Saige" Saige said "And this is Sakura and Kyra." She said. She didn't trust this newcomer at all. "what's a couple of ladies like you doing out here all alone?" Ivan asked, handing Saige her sword from the ground. "I could ask you the same thing" she snapped bitterly, snatching it from him. Sakura rolled her eyes. "We're here to –"she almost told Ivan about her meeting with Sheik at Saige's house, and how she was looking for a powerful wizard to help Hyrule, but figured Ivan wouldn't know any powerful wizards anyway, so just told him about how she and Saige were going to track down The Force, and warn other towns about it. They might even put a stop to it, she added. Ivan nodded. "The Force eh?" he asked "Mind filling me in?" Saige smirked. "well," she said "The Force , leaded by Xieon, attacked the Western Ocean, and killed everything there –"Ivan's eyes widened in shock.  
  
"WHAT?" he managed to stammer Saige looked taken aback by his reaction. "Western ocean was attacked by them, since the Zoras were the only people that knew of the Force's plan. Unfortunately, we've no idea what the plan was since they are all gone" Ivan sat down on a nearby rock, his blue orbs just staring straight ahead. 'I come from Western Ocean. I've been out here in the Pass for weeks now" he said slowly and quietly. Saige and Sakura exchanged glances. Surely this wasn't the help they were told lay in store for them at the Pass. The young boy continued to wind his fingers around and around in his dark blue cloak. "well.." Sakura said "If you'd like to tag along.." Ivan broke into a smile "really?!" he asked. Sakura nodded. "YES!" the boy yelped, jumping into the air. "I'll show them, I will! I'll use my ultimate powers to help save the world!" Saige rolled her eyes. "a bit of an ego problem there eh?" she scowled. Ivan looked at her madly. "I doubt you can do anything useful" he sneered. Saige smiled smugly. "as a matter of fact I can. I can talk to animals, and I'm a great swordsman." She said, puffing out her chest slightly. "and Sakura's got wind powers" she added dully after Sakura threw her a nasty look. "Will those Lunar Wolf things ever come back?" Sakura asked, glancing around her uncertainly. "definitely" said Ivan, and he reached into his backpack for a small sleeping bag, and a pile of wood. "They hate light, so we can make a fire, settle down, and head to West Ocean tomorrow at sunrise" With that he threw himself into the sleeping bag. "HEY!" Saige yelped "we have to make the fire?!" She kicked the bag hard, but Ivan ignored her. "great" she muttered, walking over to the sticks and taking a piece of from her pack. She picked the driest of the wood he had put down and struck the flint to the wood. She finally got a small ember going, and she fed it the other wood until it grew. Sakura was already asleep, but Saige sat up in front of the fire. She watched as it tongues reached for the velvet black sky, then sank back into the refuge of their homes again. She wished she could do that. Go back home, and be welcomed back by those she loved, those gone to her now. Like her mother and her father...She dismissed the thought and stared at the velvet black sky. It looked like a black cloth with little pin-pricks in it, letting light from another world shine in. She began to wonder, what they were going to do at Western Ocean anyway? Just take a look, look for a plan or a clue maybe? And what about the other towns, would they believe her If she just waltzed in and went "yeah, your all doomed. Even if you fight back. Goodbye." No, that wouldn't work. She'd tell them, and maybe have them fight back. Then she herself, and maybe Sakura and Ivan, would go look for the Force. She's serve as a spy, telling their location, and finding the plan that the Zora knew of. Her spirits brightened at the thought, and she crawled into her sleeping bag and went to sleep, anticipating the morning. 


	7. The Zen

Zelda and Zoras are copyrighted Nintendo, and not by me. Saige, Sakura,  
Ivan, Xieon, all monsters and any other character not copyrighted by Nintendo, is mine and mine ONLY! You may only use them if you e-mail me  
and ask (politely!)  
  
*~*Chapter 7*~*  
The Zen  
  
Saige peeled open her eyes and saw Sakura and Ivan standing impatiently over her. The sun was blazing down onto the desert-like Pass, and the heat was already excruciating. "what..?" Saige mumbled, rolling over to hide from the sun. "Get UP!" Sakura snapped, grabbing the end of Saige's sleeping bag and yanking, so that Saige was left on the ground, and Sakura had the bag. Saige spat out a load of dry dust that was in her mouth and groaning, stood up. "Its way past dawn!" Sakura said with growing impatience. "We'd have already cleared this miserable Pass by now if you two lumps took care to actually wake up! I swear, I thought you were dead!" With that Sakura stormed of to roll her own sleeping bag, and hoisted it onto the top of her pack. Ivan threw a bewildered glance at Saige, she smirked. "get used to it" Saige whispered so Sakura couldn't hear. "she's always like this" The two scrambled to roll their sleeping bags, and stamp out the glowing embers that was once their fire. Once packed, the group headed out. The sun beat down on them, and there was no life for miles on all sides. "how much longer..?" Sakura complained "we have no idea! So shut your trap!" Saige yelped back at her. She was getting very sick of Sakura's complaints. Ivan rolled his eyes. The two girls obviously weren't getting along very well...but he had to admit, the heat was getting to him too... "I'm so thirsty!" Sakura whined, rubbing her parched throat. To this Saige said nothing. She couldn't blame Sakura, it was VERY hot. She looked upwards and shaded her eyes with her hand. She cursed the stupid sun for being so harsh, and the dumb Pass they'd been lost in for almost a week. They were already clean out of food, and water, and Saige's stomach was growling. She felt as if she was going to collapse any minuet, she was so dizzy... "How far is it anyway?" She groaned to Ivan. "About an hour or two" he sighed. "are there any watering holes or something between here and the ocean?" Sakura asked. "nope. Nothin'" Ivan reported. This sparked Saige's curiosity. "Hey" she began "you said you've been in this Pass for weeks, but you ain't got any water" she said. Sakura looked slightly taken aback by the information. It was true, Ivan had no pack. All he had was a long blue cloak, and it's pockets surely weren't large enough to hold a canteen. Even if they did, where would he fill it? Ivan looked blankly ahead of him. "yeah...? So...?" Saige smirked. She had him now. "So?!" she asked "You'd be dead by now? And what on Avvia are you doing out here all alone anyway?!" Ivan took a deep breath. "I told you, I'm from Western Ocean" Saige was getting impatient. "So are the Zoras." She snapped "But they aren't in this horrid Gem Mountain Pass!" Ivan looked back at Saige and Sakura. "I was...exiled should you say... because I have this...abnormality.." Saige crossed her arms over her chest. "yeah, so do we. We told you that. I can talk to animals, and Sakura here has wind powers. How more "abnormal" can you get?!" Ivan sneered at her. "Well, where I come from, It was considered a disgrace. I was banished, since I have...water powers" Saige grabbed him by the collar of his blue robes, holding him even to her face, (which for him was a foot off the ground) "WATER POWERS?" She yelled "AND YOU'VE LET US COMPLAIN ABOUT BEING THIRSTY FOR HOURS NOW?" Ivan looked thoroughly taken aback, and Sakura took this chance to pry him from Saige's grip. "I-I can only m-manipulate it! Not create it!" He stammered. Saige seemed to be calming down now. "alright...can you make more of it? Like make it expand?" She asked dryly. "yeah.." Ivan said. "where is this going, Saige?" Sakura snapped. "Yes, learn to control yah' tempah' and take a breather Hun' Now tell us all, what's goin' on? Kyra said soothingly. "Kyra...spit for me.." Saige ordered. Kyra gave her a quizzical look, but spat anyway. "EEW!" Sakura yelped, jumping backwards. "I'm not gonna drink THAT" She pointed at the spit on the cracked floor of the Pass. "don't be stupid" Saige snapped. "Ivan can manipulate WATER, so I guess the spit part will be left there, and the water will be extracted, then multiplied" she turned on Ivan "can you do that?" She said it as if it was more of an order, not a question. Ivan nodded numbly and set to work. He held up his finger, much as Sakura did with her powers, and closed his eyes. Sakura, Saige and Kyra watched as the bubbling spit-like foam split away from the clear water, and rose into the air. It flung a few yards off, and the water part began to jiggle. First slowly, then faster, all the while getting bigger. It was now a foot long block of water, floating in the air. Saige, Sakura and Kyra dove at it, but it leapt from their grasp. It moved towards a hollowed out crack atop a boulder, and kept doubling itself until the crack was full with glittering water. Ivan put his finger down, and strode towards it. He smiled. "there" he said proudly. The girls didn't wait for an invitation, but flung themselves at it, sipping the water greedily. It felt good on their coarse thoughts. "Thanks So much Ivan!" Sakura gasped. He surely was going to come in handy. Then she remembered what Sheik had said, that he knew of the magic that Xieon used. She abandon the water and walked towards him. "erm...Ivan? " She asked slowly, choosing her words carefully. "I was told...that you knew about this magic that Xieon is using..?" Saige looked up from the water and walked casually over, taking her place next to Sakura. Ivan nodded. "yeah...I know a bit about magic, dunno if it's the type your looking for. Not much though. The Zoras knew a lot, all I know is what I managed to pick up from rumors and such" "well, you gonna tell us or not?" Saige snapped irritably. Ivan decided she was not a morning person. "yeah, I guess." Ivan shrugged, mostly to annoy Saige. "This is hard to explain.." Ivan admitted, furrowing his brow, searching for a way to put it into words. Normally, he just understood, but teaching what he knew to others, that was harder. "well, imagine this." He said "times are bad, really, really bad. Dark Wizards, like this Xieon of yours, are everywhere. They strike towns, cities, continents too fast, no one can retaliate. Almost no one has a home, people dieing this way and that. That's how the world used to be, about 1000 years ago. It was then that Zelda's family overthrew the dark wizards. No one really knows how, but they did. Some say that they overthrew the wizards, using their own brand of magic against them. A gem so strong, it could destroy, or create, worlds...no galaxies in a second. This gem, is called the Zen." Ivan paused for a breath. "The Zen was worshipped for the sun god, Sol, and the moon god, Luna. Legend has it that their power is in the Zen. Of course, this is all rubbish, since the Sun and Moon are not gods, but at the time it was believed they were. Anyway, the Zen is an object of massive power, but if it falls into the wrong hands, you might as well kiss your butt good-bye cuz' there's little chance your gonna live for much longer. But, I suspect, that since the moon and sun are opposites, this represents how Zelda's family turned the world around with the Zen, and fixed it all up. Many have searched for the Zen, and as far as I know, many have failed. The Zen was considered gone for good." Ivan finished. Saige and Sakura looked awed. No one spoke for a minuet. "well why didn't we learn that in history class?" Sakura smirked. "I always knew that class was useless!" For once in her life though, Saige was looking very serious, and appeared to be deep in thought. "c'mon Saige" Sakura said, punching her playfully on the shoulder. "Its rubbish, and has nothing at all to do with Xieon, so lets go. I'd like to get to West Ocean before sunset" She walked gaily forward, and Ivan and Saige followed her. "Don't worry Sakura, not far now!" Ivan smiled. The team walked for about an hour, keeping a steady pace. The sun beat down on them, but the growing smell of salt in the air, and prospect of all that water kept the group going. Suddenly Sakura stopped. "Hear that?" she asked excitedly. Saige and Ivan listened hard. A soft roar reached their ears, like a far away freight train. "yeah.." Saige mused "wonder what it is" Ivan listened for a few more seconds. "I don't know... I didn't pass any train tracks on my way here. Then again, I walked on top of this gorge, not in it." He pointed to the top part of the canyon. The group hurried forward. The sound was getting louder now, so strange, yet so familiar. It beckoned them on and... "OH MY GOSH!" Sakura shrieked from far ahead. Saige and Ivan caught up and gasped. They were on the edge of a fifty some-odd foot high cliff, and a yard or so below them a gigantic hole was broken into the side of the pass. Crystal clear water sped from it and plummeted down into the vast ocean below. Saige nor Sakura had ever seen an ocean before. They watched it's waves reach up onto the shore and lap against the rocks of the cliff. "I have never seen so much water in my life" Saige breathed softly, as if one loud noise would shatter the beauty of the moment. "Its so..." Sakura searched for a word "wonderful!" Ivan was staring at the hole in the wall below them. "odd.." he began "I didn't know Gem Mountain Pass had an underground spring below it! In fact, I don't think I'd ever been to this part of the beach before!" The girls snapped out of their daydream. "what?!" Saige yelped, taking Ivan by surprise. "You mean to tell me, that you have NO IDEA where we are?!" Ivan stepped backwards a bit. "well...no I have an idea, we just go that way" he pointed back down the pass. "what do you mean, down the pass again?!" Sakura yelled. "no!" Ivan smiled. "I mean we climb down, and go a ways that way. I'm sure that's where the Zora Temple is, and we can search for clues there" Saige and Sakura nodded. "Lets go then" Saige smiled, and dove from her spot, landing a few yards below, right next to the waterfall. "Saige that's not safe!" Ivan yelped, a second too late. Saige had already jumped, and with a whoop was heading down into the ocean. She knew how to swim, as she had a lake near her house, but skydiving was another thing. She felt like her stomach was doing back flips with her, and she couldn't help but smile as she plummeted downwards. The moist air felt great against her dirt-covered face. As suddenly as it had started, it stopped, and Saige hit the water hard. She sank a good dozen feet, and paddled up to the top. Her ponytail was now out, and her shoulder length blonde hair was fanning out in a circle around her. "COME ON!" She yelled up. "UNLESS YOUR CHICKEN!!!" Saige made little chicken sounds and flapped her arms. Kyra looked down the cliff, and stepped nervously backwards. "I really dun' like heights Saige.." she yelled back down. Sakura and Ivan exchanged glances, before diving off themselves, leaving the brown dog up there alone. "Ya'll go on!" She yelled as Sakura and Ivan hit water "I'll climb down, follow your scent, and meet you before sundown!" Saige nodded "'Kay!" She yelled back up, and the trio swam towards shore. 


	8. Zora Temple

Zelda and Zoras are copyrighted Nintendo, and not by me. Saige, Sakura,  
Ivan, Xieon, all monsters and any other character not copyrighted by Nintendo, is mine and mine ONLY! You may only use them if you e-mail me  
and ask (politely!)  
  
*~* Chapter 8 *~*  
Zora Temple  
  
"come ....on!" Ivan shouted behind him. The girls were slower swimmers than him, and were very far behind. He reached water he could stand in, and grabbed a foothold. He shuffled his feet to scare away stingrays, and instructed the girls to do the same. But they were still a good 12 yards behind him, talking. Ivan reached shore and lay down on the sand. The sand of West Ocean was known worldwide for it's softness. The waves of the beach were very strong, and ground the sand into very fine little rocks, that were as soft as silk. But the ocean floor was anything but smooth, it was rocky and perilous to swimmers who were alone. She girls reached waist high water and ran towards shore, Sakura complaining the whole time. "gosh Ivan, why are there so many darn rocks?" She whined Ivan rolled his eyes, how would he know? Suddenly Sakura shrieked. "wha-..?" Saige began, but she too leapt backwards screaming. The two were pointing into the water, and backing away furiously. A stingray was winding its way around their legs. Its flat body soared over the water, and it continued to circle the girls. "ITS GOOIE!" Sakura yelped, diving behind Saige. "What is it?!" Saige yelled at Ivan, dashing out of it's path and towards shore. "relax!" Ivan said coolly "Its just a stingray!" These girls really know nothing about the ocean.. he thought to himself. "relax?!" Saige yelled as she stepped onto the sand, slipped, and crawled the rest of the way to Ivan. "RELAX? It's name starts with 'sting'! Is it poisonous?" Sakura reached shore then, and flopped down next to Saige, thoroughly exhausted. She shoved her bare foot at Ivan, who could see it was pink and swelling. "not only have I got calluses all over my feet, but I got stung by a giant placemat!" She yelped Ivan couldn't help but smile at that one, the stingrays did look like placemats.. "don't worry" he said, shoving Sakura's foot out of the way "It'll feel better in a few hours" With that he stood up, briskly brushed the sand off of his robe, and offered his hand to Sakura. She took it and he helped her up. She leaned on Saige and gingerly put her foot down. It stung a little, but not that badly anymore. Saige stood up, and lifted her pack to her shoulders. "which way Iva-"she tried to walk, and fell on her face. "sorry.." she panted "my boot...it got stuck in the sand" she stood up again, yanked her foot out and continued walking. This went on for a while, Saige falling every two steps, before she gave up and took off her boots, and stuffed them in her pack. The sand, she noticed, was very hot, and the soles of her feet burned to touch it. So the group proceeded, looking quite odd, one girl limping and complaining, another hopping up and down like a nut, and the last boy walking a long ways ahead, yelling at them every now and then to move faster. The trio went like this for some time, until the sun was almost halfway behind the horizon, and the sky around it was a deep orange and red. The waves glittered back the same bright colors as they grew faster, larger, before breaking and smashing against the shoreline. Sakura couldn't help but notice how little life seemed to be here, not a sound could be heard except for the sound of the breaking waves, and Saige's almost constant 'eek!..ACK!...COOOOLD!' (the sand had turned ice cold once the sun began to set) "Lets camp here girls" Ivan instructed, throwing his pack onto a formation of large, gray rocks. Saige tossed herself onto the ground gratefully, her callused feet high in the air above her head, so as not to let them touch the freezing sand. She lazily rolled out her sleeping bag, and crawled into it. She was thoroughly exhausted, and couldn't WAIT to get to bed. She felt Ivan lay his bag down on one side of her, and Sakura on the other. It was mere minuets before the low sound of the crashing waves lulled her to sleep.  
  
KABOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!! Ivan rolled over in his sleeping bag. Another long, loud roll of thunder called out, followed by a flash of lightning. A storm! And they were on the beach! Quick as a flash he was out of his bag, had it rolled up, and was jostling the girls awake. "come on, storm!" he yelled over the roaring of the winds. Saige peeled open her brown eyes and looked out at the ocean. It was a steel gray, and waves were thrashing madly against the side of the Pass which was still visible a little in the distance. The spray from the huge waves had already soaked her to the bone, and she scurried to pack up. A sudden flash of lightning tore across the sky, leaving a few seconds of piercing light before it grew dark again. "one....two.....three...four...five" Saige recited slowly. She had only reached seven before a quick clap of thunder made Sakura behind her jump and grab her shoulder. "come on Saige!" Sakura yelled. The ocean's roar and the wind's scream mixed with the claps of thunder and flashes of lightning made it nearly impossible to hear each other. It was then the rain started, like a billion gallon pail was being poured, rain drove down in foot-long sheets, freezing the trio to the core. Not only was it hard to hear now that the rain was added to the mess, but they could only see a good 3 feet in front of their faces. Another flash of lightning, Saige counted again, and only reached 4 before the thunder roared. "ITS GETTING CLOSER!" She screamed to her companions. A flash of lightning allowed her to see them scrambling up a nearby pile of rocks, and taking refuge under one. Sakura dove under a rock near Ivan, and pointed to one where Saige could stay. Then a thought hit Saige... Kyra. "SAKURA!" She yelled "WHERE'S KYRA?!" Sakura shook her head violently. "I HAVE NO IDEA! SHE SAID SHE'D MEET US!" Saige envisioned Kyra, alone in the pouring rain, but a hand grabbed her firmly by the shoulder and shoved her forward towards the rocks. It was Sakura "NO!" She yelled, but she was sure no one could hear here "I NEED TO FIND MY DOG!" She was shoved under the rocks. It was defiantly drier in there but she couldn't see a bit through the water that poured off the top of the rock and onto the ground. Sakura and Ivan made a run to under her ledge, and squeezed in. All of them were panting, and dripping wet. "S-S-Saige" Ivan gasped "I'm sure your dog is f- fine" "y-yeah" Sakura agreed, nodding "s-she's smart enough t-to find shelter" Saige nodded her head slowly. They were right, Kyra was smart... "Hey.." Ivan gasped "Look at this!" He pointed to a long, wood plank on the ground. "So?" Sakura snapped "It's a log, whoopty-diddle-doo" Ivan shook his head, sending sprays of water at the girls. "No, look" he lifted it, and they could see a small opening, with stairs leading down into darkness. "should we go in..?" He asked. Saige looked down it. "yeah! It's better than being stuck in this crud!" She pointed to the rain, which was still pouring incessantly. She clambered into the hole, and her friends soon followed. The ladder went down a ways, before dropping off onto a thin beam. Saige couldn't see a thing, and heard the sound of rushing water below her. "IVAN!" she yelled "toss me down that lamp will yah?" A small metal object came falling down the hole, and Saige just managed to catch it before loosing her balance. She took a step backwards, and screamed. There was no floor! She began to fall, and felt a hand grasp her shoulder. "second time I've saved your butt today Saige!" Sakura snapped jokingly, pulling Saige back onto the thin beam. Saige quickly struck a match from her pack, and the tunnel was flooded with light. She appeared to be standing on a thin red-ish beam, with murky black water flowing below her. She held the lamp further ahead of her, and took an uncertain step. She didn't want to fall, she had no idea what was in that water, but it didn't look clean. Ivan landed with a thud on the beam behind the girls. "Lets go" he panted "I don't like it here" he glanced nervously at the water, and the trio set off. Saige didn't know how long they walked, but it must have been a while, since she was totally dry, and her bare feet were automatically walking on the beam, without her having to place her feet carefully anymore. "Look!" Ivan pointed so suddenly Sakura had to grab Saige's backpack to keep from falling off. Directly in from of Saige was a long rope ladder. It went up a ways, and led to a round door. Saige climbed a few rungs up the ladder. "come on.." she murmured, pushing on the latch of the door. It swung open easily, and she climbed out. "OH MY GOSH GUYS!" She yelled down the stairs. She was in an oblong room, not much unlike the one that Zelda had showed her and the townsfolk at the announcement. The ceiling, walls and floor were made of a water like substance, but it was hard to the touch. The room was empty save for a few small chairs and a large horse trough against the wall. Ivan heaved himself up and gasped. "we're in the Zora Temple guys.." he said slowly and precisely. "this is where all the Zoras live- er I mean- lived" he frowned. "I never knew there was a passage..." Sakura yanked herself out of the hole and stood beside Saige. "gosh...Ivan, where exactly are we?" she asked. "It looks like the water processing room" he replied. The girls looked confused so he explained. "Most of the Town is water, that's the main transportation for Zoras. In fact, the entire Temple is water, save for a few small glass islands and the band shell. I think this is where they clean the water, and propel it back into the Temple. See, there's a trough with a net to catch all the dirt and germs." He said, pointing to the horse trough. "all water..?" Sakura asked slowly "then how are we going to get around..?"  
  
Ivan turned around. "well, matters what you want to do here. You never exactly told me" "well..." Saige began "we were thinking of looking for any sign of a clue about what powers Xieon is using, and we'll tell that to all the other towns we encounter." Ivan contemplated this for a while. "so" he said "I guess your planning on being here for a while...Is 10 hours enough?" Saige glanced quizzically at him. "yeah, more than enough, why?" Ivan grinned. "I might have something that can turn you into a Zora for a short period of time. That way you can have complete accessibility to the Temple, since Zoras were not such friendly creatures, and the Temple is full of traps. If you transform into a Zora, the traps shouldn't affect you. Of course, this will be only temporary..." "are the dead bodies still here..?" Sakura asked slowly, staring at the ceiling. "were you even listening?" Saige yelled, knocking Sakura hard on the head. "Yes!" She snapped back "I'd turn into a Zora! I'm just not so keen on dead bodies everywhere!" She shivered visibly. "I don't think so Sakura.." Ivan added "I guess your Princess Zelda would have cleaned the place up a bit...how'd she find out about this anyway?" Sakura and Saige froze. How did Zelda know what had happened, if no human had been here for a long, long time. "I-I...we...don't...I" Sakura talked in circles for a second. Surely, Zelda had nothing to do with this! "so, maybe this Zelda of yours turned on you, hm? Can you prove it wasn't her?!" "Drop it Ivan!" Saige snapped, and Sakura was grateful for that "can you prove it was her?" She added irritably. "well...no" said Ivan flatly. "good, now what about this turning us into a Zora?" Saige asked firmly. Ivan nodded and extracted a long stick from his pocket, as well as some odd looking grass. "yeah" he said, suddenly regaining his composure "I have a bit of Gwarpweed right here" He held up the sickly looking grass "and I'll just need a few things. You'll just have to dash around the Temple finless for a while, but don't worry, it'll pay off." Saige smiled. "good, what do yah' need?" Ivan looked at the ceiling thoughtfully. "I'll need a Flordelagua petal...and some water from the temple, and a Zora scale" he said, ticking off the things on his fingers. Saige looked confused. "What's a Floriwhatsit thingy?" Saige asked Ivan smirked. "It's a rare flower that grows only down at the bottom of the Ocean." Sakura grimaced. "No way no how I'm swimming in that storm!" She sneered defiantly. Ivan smiled again. "no worries, we are at the bottom of the ocean. That's where the temple is! Now go find a flordelagua petal, water, and a Zora scale. Understand? Good? Now go!" Ivan said this all very quickly, and shoved the girls out the large blue door that they hadn't noticed and into the temple. Ivan was right, the place was almost entirely water. They were standing on a large glass island, and were surrounded by the clearest water they had ever seen. To their left, a waterfall glittered, flowing down and into the water below. About 12 yards away, lay another larger island, with dozens of little house- like huts. Way in the distance, was a large band shell. There was a big glass catwalk around the huge room, dotted with doors every few feet. "wow..." Sakura breathed "This place is magnificent!" She looked around in awe. "come on!" Saige said from above her. She was already perched comfortably on the catwalk, and reached her hand down to Sakura. She helped Sakura up, and the two carefully made their way across the walk. "watch your step" Sakura ordered "I am" Saige snapped back "Just checking....how much further do you think?" "Don't ask me! I've no idea where a dumb old flower would grow here anyway! And we'll need to find a zora scale too..." "Flowers are not dumb Saige, they're beautiful and a wonderful addition to our environment-" "Save me the herbology lesson Sakura..." The two ambled on like this for some time, popping their heads into random rooms, Most of which were almost exactly alike. Either a bedroom with a small kitchen, or a completely empty room. "Hey Saige!" Sakura called from a ways ahead of Saige. "It looks like this is the only room we haven't checked!" Saige trotted forward, and saw that they were almost back at the waterfall again, save for one door. "Open it then!" She ordered. Sakura did as she was told, and threw open the door. She shrieked and jumped back, pointing. Saige looked around the doorframe and saw hundreds of the Zora's bodies, still on the floor. "Well....we've found the Zora scales..." She grimaced. "EW! How long have they been here, a few weeks?" Sakura almost yelled. "They still look fine...like they're just dolls.." Saige pointed out. It was true, the things hadn't moved, but they weren't rotting or anything. Just...dead. Saige glanced around the room. It was the same empty room Zelda had shown them, nothing appeared to be touched. "Hey! Look!" Sakura was pointing to a solitary flower hung in one of the Zora's hair. She looked like she was a young teenage girl. Her body was entirely of scales, and long blue hair fell from her head onto her shoulders. Saige walked slowly up to her, followed closely by a cowering Sakura. She reached down, and took the blue flower gently from the Zora's head. It's sea-green eyes didn't move. She then gently grasped one of the girl's blue scales, and pulled. Behind her, Sakura whimpered. Suddenly, a loud hum rang through the air. Sakura yelped and jumped back, and Saige looked around wildly. The walls of the room were moving now, like fierce waves. And atop the large blue pillars, blue flames erupted. The entire Temple seemed to be jumping with life.  
  
"what's going on?!" Sakura whined. "Like I know?" Saige sneered back. "Lets just am-scram!" She darted out the door. The water below the catwalk was alive now too, and many other waterfalls had sprouted from the tall ceiling and azure walls, and were now thundering down into the water. "come on!" Saige ducked into the room that she and Sakura had left Ivan. They found him in the middle of the room, staring openmouthed at the walls.  
  
Saige shoved the ingredients into his hands. "What's going on?" Sakura repeated, desperately this time. "Someone started up the main water processing system" Ivan reported "Like they just switched the town back on. Of course, only someone alive can do that!" He added as he noticed Sakura's face getting paler. He looked at the ingredients in his hands. "did you get the water?" he demanded. Saige cursed to herself. "I'll get it.." she grabbed a bottle she had put her drinking water in, and dashed outside. The water in the town was spinning now, like a whirlpool. The low hum could still be heard, louder now that she was back in the main room. She grabbed a bottleful of water, and ran back inside. Ivan had already piled the items into the long trough, and tossed in the water. "there.." he mumbled. "Now be quiet for a second" He began to mumble, softly at first, then louder. "Flordelagua Flower, shows the beauty within, A Zora's deep blue scale, the power of the swim, Gwarpweed will alter and obscure, It's drinkers will be changed, But if they stay out past their ten, Transformed they will remain.." The thing began to bubble menacingly, and them simmered down until it looked basically normal, just a bit thick. "drink it" Ivan ordered, handing Saige back the bottle, now full of the liquid. "But remember" he warned as she took a big swig. It didn't taste too bad... "If you don't drink the potion again after 10 hours, you'll stay transformed" Sakura took a sip too, and managed to down the whole bottle. She returned it to Ivan, who placed it back in the trough. "Transformed? I don't feel a thin-" She stopped. Her eyes seemed to be covered by a blinding light, a white sheet. She screamed out. She could feel herself changing, a long tail sprouting from her backside, her back was growing long, streamlines scales. Her clothes were changing too, actually, it felt like she no longer had them. She remembered Zora's had almost 'built in' clothes, a long dress- like scale that hung from their chest down to their knees. As suddenly as it started though, it stopped. She looked down at her hands, and could do nothing but stare. They were covered in blue green scales! She turned her palms over curiously. Behind her, someone tapped her shoulder. She wheeled around and saw a long, fishlike creature. It had large, green eyes, and a mess of tangled blue hair. A long cloth hung like a sleeveless dress, and upon closer inspection, Sakura noticed it was a scale. "Its me!" It squealed. "Saige!" Sakura grinned numbly, and then turned to Ivan. To her surprise, Ivan was not changed. "You go" he urged "I'll wait here" She heard to door close, and saw Saige's long blue finned tail whisk out the door. She darted after her, waving goodbye to Ivan. The waterlevel in the main room had risen a good bit, and Saige was anxious to get into it. "Lets go..." Saige said slowly. 


	9. The First Clue

Zelda and Zoras are copyrighted Nintendo, and not by me. Saige, Sakura,  
Ivan, Xieon, all monsters and any other character not copyrighted by Nintendo, is mine and mine ONLY! You may only use them if you e-mail me  
and ask (politely!)  
  
*~* Chapter 8 *~*  
Zora Temple  
  
"come ....on!" Ivan shouted behind him. The girls were slower swimmers than him, and were very far behind. He reached water he could stand in, and grabbed a foothold. He shuffled his feet to scare away stingrays, and instructed the girls to do the same. But they were still a good 12 yards behind him, talking. Ivan reached shore and lay down on the sand. The sand of West Ocean was known worldwide for it's softness. The waves of the beach were very strong, and ground the sand into very fine little rocks, that were as soft as silk. But the ocean floor was anything but smooth, it was rocky and perilous to swimmers who were alone. She girls reached waist high water and ran towards shore, Sakura complaining the whole time. "gosh Ivan, why are there so many darn rocks?" She whined Ivan rolled his eyes, how would he know? Suddenly Sakura shrieked. "wha-..?" Saige began, but she too leapt backwards screaming. The two were pointing into the water, and backing away furiously. A stingray was winding its way around their legs. Its flat body soared over the water, and it continued to circle the girls. "ITS GOOIE!" Sakura yelped, diving behind Saige. "What is it?!" Saige yelled at Ivan, dashing out of it's path and towards shore. "relax!" Ivan said coolly "Its just a stingray!" These girls really know nothing about the ocean.. he thought to himself. "relax?!" Saige yelled as she stepped onto the sand, slipped, and crawled the rest of the way to Ivan. "RELAX? It's name starts with 'sting'! Is it poisonous?" Sakura reached shore then, and flopped down next to Saige, thoroughly exhausted. She shoved her bare foot at Ivan, who could see it was pink and swelling. "not only have I got calluses all over my feet, but I got stung by a giant placemat!" She yelped Ivan couldn't help but smile at that one, the stingrays did look like placemats.. "don't worry" he said, shoving Sakura's foot out of the way "It'll feel better in a few hours" With that he stood up, briskly brushed the sand off of his robe, and offered his hand to Sakura. She took it and he helped her up. She leaned on Saige and gingerly put her foot down. It stung a little, but not that badly anymore. Saige stood up, and lifted her pack to her shoulders. "which way Iva-"she tried to walk, and fell on her face. "sorry.." she panted "my boot...it got stuck in the sand" she stood up again, yanked her foot out and continued walking. This went on for a while, Saige falling every two steps, before she gave up and took off her boots, and stuffed them in her pack. The sand, she noticed, was very hot, and the soles of her feet burned to touch it. So the group proceeded, looking quite odd, one girl limping and complaining, another hopping up and down like a nut, and the last boy walking a long ways ahead, yelling at them every now and then to move faster. The trio went like this for some time, until the sun was almost halfway behind the horizon, and the sky around it was a deep orange and red. The waves glittered back the same bright colors as they grew faster, larger, before breaking and smashing against the shoreline. Sakura couldn't help but notice how little life seemed to be here, not a sound could be heard except for the sound of the breaking waves, and Saige's almost constant 'eek!..ACK!...COOOOLD!' (the sand had turned ice cold once the sun began to set) "Lets camp here girls" Ivan instructed, throwing his pack onto a formation of large, gray rocks. Saige tossed herself onto the ground gratefully, her callused feet high in the air above her head, so as not to let them touch the freezing sand. She lazily rolled out her sleeping bag, and crawled into it. She was thoroughly exhausted, and couldn't WAIT to get to bed. She felt Ivan lay his bag down on one side of her, and Sakura on the other. It was mere minuets before the low sound of the crashing waves lulled her to sleep.  
  
KABOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!! Ivan rolled over in his sleeping bag. Another long, loud roll of thunder called out, followed by a flash of lightning. A storm! And they were on the beach! Quick as a flash he was out of his bag, had it rolled up, and was jostling the girls awake. "come on, storm!" he yelled over the roaring of the winds. Saige peeled open her brown eyes and looked out at the ocean. It was a steel gray, and waves were thrashing madly against the side of the Pass which was still visible a little in the distance. The spray from the huge waves had already soaked her to the bone, and she scurried to pack up. A sudden flash of lightning tore across the sky, leaving a few seconds of piercing light before it grew dark again. "one....two.....three...four...five" Saige recited slowly. She had only reached seven before a quick clap of thunder made Sakura behind her jump and grab her shoulder. "come on Saige!" Sakura yelled. The ocean's roar and the wind's scream mixed with the claps of thunder and flashes of lightning made it nearly impossible to hear each other. It was then the rain started, like a billion gallon pail was being poured, rain drove down in foot-long sheets, freezing the trio to the core. Not only was it hard to hear now that the rain was added to the mess, but they could only see a good 3 feet in front of their faces. Another flash of lightning, Saige counted again, and only reached 4 before the thunder roared. "ITS GETTING CLOSER!" She screamed to her companions. A flash of lightning allowed her to see them scrambling up a nearby pile of rocks, and taking refuge under one. Sakura dove under a rock near Ivan, and pointed to one where Saige could stay. Then a thought hit Saige... Kyra. "SAKURA!" She yelled "WHERE'S KYRA?!" Sakura shook her head violently. "I HAVE NO IDEA! SHE SAID SHE'D MEET US!" Saige envisioned Kyra, alone in the pouring rain, but a hand grabbed her firmly by the shoulder and shoved her forward towards the rocks. It was Sakura "NO!" She yelled, but she was sure no one could hear here "I NEED TO FIND MY DOG!" She was shoved under the rocks. It was defiantly drier in there but she couldn't see a bit through the water that poured off the top of the rock and onto the ground. Sakura and Ivan made a run to under her ledge, and squeezed in. All of them were panting, and dripping wet. "S-S-Saige" Ivan gasped "I'm sure your dog is f- fine" "y-yeah" Sakura agreed, nodding "s-she's smart enough t-to find shelter" Saige nodded her head slowly. They were right, Kyra was smart... "Hey.." Ivan gasped "Look at this!" He pointed to a long, wood plank on the ground. "So?" Sakura snapped "It's a log, whoopty-diddle-doo" Ivan shook his head, sending sprays of water at the girls. "No, look" he lifted it, and they could see a small opening, with stairs leading down into darkness. "should we go in..?" He asked. Saige looked down it. "yeah! It's better than being stuck in this crud!" She pointed to the rain, which was still pouring incessantly. She clambered into the hole, and her friends soon followed. The ladder went down a ways, before dropping off onto a thin beam. Saige couldn't see a thing, and heard the sound of rushing water below her. "IVAN!" she yelled "toss me down that lamp will yah?" A small metal object came falling down the hole, and Saige just managed to catch it before loosing her balance. She took a step backwards, and screamed. There was no floor! She began to fall, and felt a hand grasp her shoulder. "second time I've saved your butt today Saige!" Sakura snapped jokingly, pulling Saige back onto the thin beam. Saige quickly struck a match from her pack, and the tunnel was flooded with light. She appeared to be standing on a thin red-ish beam, with murky black water flowing below her. She held the lamp further ahead of her, and took an uncertain step. She didn't want to fall, she had no idea what was in that water, but it didn't look clean. Ivan landed with a thud on the beam behind the girls. "Lets go" he panted "I don't like it here" he glanced nervously at the water, and the trio set off. Saige didn't know how long they walked, but it must have been a while, since she was totally dry, and her bare feet were automatically walking on the beam, without her having to place her feet carefully anymore. "Look!" Ivan pointed so suddenly Sakura had to grab Saige's backpack to keep from falling off. Directly in from of Saige was a long rope ladder. It went up a ways, and led to a round door. Saige climbed a few rungs up the ladder. "come on.." she murmured, pushing on the latch of the door. It swung open easily, and she climbed out. "OH MY GOSH GUYS!" She yelled down the stairs. She was in an oblong room, not much unlike the one that Zelda had showed her and the townsfolk at the announcement. The ceiling, walls and floor were made of a water like substance, but it was hard to the touch. The room was empty save for a few small chairs and a large horse trough against the wall. Ivan heaved himself up and gasped. "we're in the Zora Temple guys.." he said slowly and precisely. "this is where all the Zoras live- er I mean- lived" he frowned. "I never knew there was a passage..." Sakura yanked herself out of the hole and stood beside Saige. "gosh...Ivan, where exactly are we?" she asked. "It looks like the water processing room" he replied. The girls looked confused so he explained. "Most of the Town is water, that's the main transportation for Zoras. In fact, the entire Temple is water, save for a few small glass islands and the band shell. I think this is where they clean the water, and propel it back into the Temple. See, there's a trough with a net to catch all the dirt and germs." He said, pointing to the horse trough. "all water..?" Sakura asked slowly "then how are we going to get around..?"  
  
Ivan turned around. "well, matters what you want to do here. You never exactly told me" "well..." Saige began "we were thinking of looking for any sign of a clue about what powers Xieon is using, and we'll tell that to all the other towns we encounter." Ivan contemplated this for a while. "so" he said "I guess your planning on being here for a while...Is 10 hours enough?" Saige glanced quizzically at him. "yeah, more than enough, why?" Ivan grinned. "I might have something that can turn you into a Zora for a short period of time. That way you can have complete accessibility to the Temple, since Zoras were not such friendly creatures, and the Temple is full of traps. If you transform into a Zora, the traps shouldn't affect you. Of course, this will be only temporary..." "are the dead bodies still here..?" Sakura asked slowly, staring at the ceiling. "were you even listening?" Saige yelled, knocking Sakura hard on the head. "Yes!" She snapped back "I'd turn into a Zora! I'm just not so keen on dead bodies everywhere!" She shivered visibly. "I don't think so Sakura.." Ivan added "I guess your Princess Zelda would have cleaned the place up a bit...how'd she find out about this anyway?" Sakura and Saige froze. How did Zelda know what had happened, if no human had been here for a long, long time. "I-I...we...don't...I" Sakura talked in circles for a second. Surely, Zelda had nothing to do with this! "so, maybe this Zelda of yours turned on you, hm? Can you prove it wasn't her?!" "Drop it Ivan!" Saige snapped, and Sakura was grateful for that "can you prove it was her?" She added irritably. "well...no" said Ivan flatly. "good, now what about this turning us into a Zora?" Saige asked firmly. Ivan nodded and extracted a long stick from his pocket, as well as some odd looking grass. "yeah" he said, suddenly regaining his composure "I have a bit of Gwarpweed right here" He held up the sickly looking grass "and I'll just need a few things. You'll just have to dash around the Temple finless for a while, but don't worry, it'll pay off." Saige smiled. "good, what do yah' need?" Ivan looked at the ceiling thoughtfully. "I'll need a Flordelagua petal...and some water from the temple, and a Zora scale" he said, ticking off the things on his fingers. Saige looked confused. "What's a Floriwhatsit thingy?" Saige asked Ivan smirked. "It's a rare flower that grows only down at the bottom of the Ocean." Sakura grimaced. "No way no how I'm swimming in that storm!" She sneered defiantly. Ivan smiled again. "no worries, we are at the bottom of the ocean. That's where the temple is! Now go find a flordelagua petal, water, and a Zora scale. Understand? Good? Now go!" Ivan said this all very quickly, and shoved the girls out the large blue door that they hadn't noticed and into the temple. Ivan was right, the place was almost entirely water. They were standing on a large glass island, and were surrounded by the clearest water they had ever seen. To their left, a waterfall glittered, flowing down and into the water below. About 12 yards away, lay another larger island, with dozens of little house- like huts. Way in the distance, was a large band shell. There was a big glass catwalk around the huge room, dotted with doors every few feet. "wow..." Sakura breathed "This place is magnificent!" She looked around in awe. "come on!" Saige said from above her. She was already perched comfortably on the catwalk, and reached her hand down to Sakura. She helped Sakura up, and the two carefully made their way across the walk. "watch your step" Sakura ordered "I am" Saige snapped back "Just checking....how much further do you think?" "Don't ask me! I've no idea where a dumb old flower would grow here anyway! And we'll need to find a zora scale too..." "Flowers are not dumb Saige, they're beautiful and a wonderful addition to our environment-" "Save me the herbology lesson Sakura..." The two ambled on like this for some time, popping their heads into random rooms, Most of which were almost exactly alike. Either a bedroom with a small kitchen, or a completely empty room. "Hey Saige!" Sakura called from a ways ahead of Saige. "It looks like this is the only room we haven't checked!" Saige trotted forward, and saw that they were almost back at the waterfall again, save for one door. "Open it then!" She ordered. Sakura did as she was told, and threw open the door. She shrieked and jumped back, pointing. Saige looked around the doorframe and saw hundreds of the Zora's bodies, still on the floor. "Well....we've found the Zora scales..." She grimaced. "EW! How long have they been here, a few weeks?" Sakura almost yelled. "They still look fine...like they're just dolls.." Saige pointed out. It was true, the things hadn't moved, but they weren't rotting or anything. Just...dead. Saige glanced around the room. It was the same empty room Zelda had shown them, nothing appeared to be touched. "Hey! Look!" Sakura was pointing to a solitary flower hung in one of the Zora's hair. She looked like she was a young teenage girl. Her body was entirely of scales, and long blue hair fell from her head onto her shoulders. Saige walked slowly up to her, followed closely by a cowering Sakura. She reached down, and took the blue flower gently from the Zora's head. It's sea-green eyes didn't move. She then gently grasped one of the girl's blue scales, and pulled. Behind her, Sakura whimpered. Suddenly, a loud hum rang through the air. Sakura yelped and jumped back, and Saige looked around wildly. The walls of the room were moving now, like fierce waves. And atop the large blue pillars, blue flames erupted. The entire Temple seemed to be jumping with life.  
  
"what's going on?!" Sakura whined. "Like I know?" Saige sneered back. "Lets just am-scram!" She darted out the door. The water below the catwalk was alive now too, and many other waterfalls had sprouted from the tall ceiling and azure walls, and were now thundering down into the water. "come on!" Saige ducked into the room that she and Sakura had left Ivan. They found him in the middle of the room, staring openmouthed at the walls.  
  
Saige shoved the ingredients into his hands. "What's going on?" Sakura repeated, desperately this time. "Someone started up the main water processing system" Ivan reported "Like they just switched the town back on. Of course, only someone alive can do that!" He added as he noticed Sakura's face getting paler. He looked at the ingredients in his hands. "did you get the water?" he demanded. Saige cursed to herself. "I'll get it.." she grabbed a bottle she had put her drinking water in, and dashed outside. The water in the town was spinning now, like a whirlpool. The low hum could still be heard, louder now that she was back in the main room. She grabbed a bottleful of water, and ran back inside. Ivan had already piled the items into the long trough, and tossed in the water. "there.." he mumbled. "Now be quiet for a second" He began to mumble, softly at first, then louder. "Flordelagua Flower, shows the beauty within, A Zora's deep blue scale, the power of the swim, Gwarpweed will alter and obscure, It's drinkers will be changed, But if they stay out past their ten, Transformed they will remain.." The thing began to bubble menacingly, and them simmered down until it looked basically normal, just a bit thick. "drink it" Ivan ordered, handing Saige back the bottle, now full of the liquid. "But remember" he warned as she took a big swig. It didn't taste too bad... "If you don't drink the potion again after 10 hours, you'll stay transformed" Sakura took a sip too, and managed to down the whole bottle. She returned it to Ivan, who placed it back in the trough. "Transformed? I don't feel a thin-" She stopped. Her eyes seemed to be covered by a blinding light, a white sheet. She screamed out. She could feel herself changing, a long tail sprouting from her backside, her back was growing long, streamlines scales. Her clothes were changing too, actually, it felt like she no longer had them. She remembered Zora's had almost 'built in' clothes, a long dress- like scale that hung from their chest down to their knees. As suddenly as it started though, it stopped. She looked down at her hands, and could do nothing but stare. They were covered in blue green scales! She turned her palms over curiously. Behind her, someone tapped her shoulder. She wheeled around and saw a long, fishlike creature. It had large, green eyes, and a mess of tangled blue hair. A long cloth hung like a sleeveless dress, and upon closer inspection, Sakura noticed it was a scale. "Its me!" It squealed. "Saige!" Sakura grinned numbly, and then turned to Ivan. To her surprise, Ivan was not changed. "You go" he urged "I'll wait here" She heard to door close, and saw Saige's long blue finned tail whisk out the door. She darted after her, waving goodbye to Ivan. The waterlevel in the main room had risen a good bit, and Saige was anxious to get into it. "Lets go..." Saige said slowly. 


End file.
